Athlete stories

Brought up in Caën, where the salt air sharpens the appetite for maritime adventure, he quickly swapped the schoolroom for the shipyard.

Even as a teenager he was pushing dinghies and yachts to their limits.

He was made for racing. Naturally, it wasn’t all plain sailing. Early on, he wrecked a Pogo 1 he was skippering. Later, in the Mini Transat, he dismasted off the Canaries.

But this only made him more determined to succeed. He was among the first to take up Class 40. On his first solo crossing, in 2008, he came fourth in the Transat. A few years later, he came third.

Then, in the 2016 Transat bakerly, he was runner-up.

A perfectionist, he wanted a boat that gave him all the control he wanted. So he designed and built his own Class 40 vessel. In everything he’s achieved, Louis Duc has showed himself to be resourceful, courageous, and fiercely independent.

Which means he’s cut from the very same cloth as Gill.

Never less than brave.

LOUIS DUC

Louis Duc got his sea legs before he could walk.

Brought up in Caën, where the salt air sharpens the appetite for maritime adventure, he quickly swapped the schoolroom for the shipyard.

Even as a teenager he was pushing dinghies and yachts to their limits.

He was made for racing. Naturally, it wasn’t all plain sailing. Early on, he wrecked a Pogo 1 he was skippering. Later, in the Mini Transat, he dismasted off the Canaries.

But this only made him more determined to succeed. He was among the first to take up Class 40. On his first solo crossing, in 2008, he came fourth in the Transat. A few years later, he came third.

Then, in the 2016 Transat bakerly, he was runner-up.

A perfectionist, he wanted a boat that gave him all the control he wanted. So he designed and built his own Class 40 vessel. In everything he’s achieved, Louis Duc has showed himself to be resourceful, courageous, and fiercely independent.